| 24th October 2006 04:15 AM |
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| Prodigal Son |
Being a frugal student now, I don't get a lot of money to spend on music anymore. I went out and spent some birthday money on some CDs that I was unable to find online on that mp3 russian site. Plus, I enjoy having the artwork and package it comes in. So I got Gang of Four's Entertainment (really awesome art-punk with exceptional jagged guitar work and the great tunes are "Ether," "Damaged Goods," "Natural's Not in it," "Guns Before Butter," "I Found That Essence Rare," and "At Home He's a Tourist"), plus Talking Heads' Talking Heads '77 and More Songs About Buildings and Food. The former is pretty good but nothing amazing except for a few songs ("Psycho Killer," "Pulled up" and "Don't Worry About the Government) but the latter is my 3rd fave of theirs (I own all their stuff except the live discs and Naked which sucks I hear) behind Remain in Light and Speaking in Tongues.
I am a rock guy but I have wide tastes and the Heads are my favourite arty new wave group. No white bred group ever made such awesome synth pop, dance, world and funk music like them. One of my fave 80s bands too although True Stories (which I borrowed and taped) and Naked are their last works and it shows. Anyway, I really enjoy "The Girls Want to Be with the Girls," "The Good Thing," "Artists Only," "I'm Not in Love" and "Take Me to the River." Also I got Van Morrison's 1991 double disc Hymns to the Silence. Holy crap, the 2nd disc of this is mesmerizing. If it stood on its own as an album I could safely call disc 2 his best LP after Into the Music. It even tops the majestic Avalon Sunset and the bluesy Too Long in Exile which I also really dig.
Disc 1 is standard Van but isn't too special (like 80% of Enlightenment or some of his 90s and 00s LPs) with only a few prime tracks but disc 2 gets his religious phase right with these serene, spiritual flowing epics that beat out most of his spiritual songs from Inarticulate Speech of the Heart through to then. Beautiful Vision comes close but is more erratic than disc 2 of Hymns (I just find stuff like "Aryan Myst," "Vanlose Stairway" and "Beautiful Vision" to be too ordinary). But stuff like "By His Grace," "Hymns to the Silence," "On Hyndford Street," "Be Thou My Vision," "Green Mansions," "Pagan Streams," "I Need Your Kind of Loving," "Professional Jealousy," "I'm Not Feeling it Anymore," and "So Complicated" have to be considered special by Van fans... like me... and Gazza I guess.
I also decided to check out some highly touted modern Britrock stuff so I got Oasis' Definitely Maybe and the Libertines' Up the Bracket. Maybe it'll take time but I prefer both artists' followups. Definitely Maybe... I've definitely maybe heard it all before whereas What's the Story, Morning Glory is just a comendable piece of mid-90s melodic rock that has stood the test of time. Up the Bracket has a real dirty sound inspired by Mick Jones producing it, but I don't see it as a punk rock classic myself. It's too disjointed and devoid of an excited sense of originality. I don't know, but you can't just throw grungey, loud, honest punk rock at me and expect it to be a masterpiece just cause it has the attitude. Maybe junkies playing punk is inferior to a bunch of drunks doing punk (the Replacements for eg. now THERE was a band that deserves its underground hype). I expect Honky Tonk Man and all the Brits to come bashing my views.
And furthermore I picked up Mermaid Avenue by Billy Bragg and Wilco which is a a folk experiment as it takes lyrics conceived by Woody Guthrie in his non-recording pre-death years. I'm listening to it now and I like it pretty good as I'm a sucker for traditional folk music performed beautifully. I credit Dylan for opening that world up to me, as do many I'm sure. I also still have yet to listen to Common Sense by John Prine. It's not his best 70s album from what I gather but I really fall for his stuff and he hasn't releasedmany average albums (though the boozy rockabilly on Pink Cadillac in 1979 isn't so hot) so this will complete my collection of his 70s discs (but I'm missing In Spite of Ourselves, Pink Cadillac-which I'm wary of, Storm Windows, Aimless Love and German Afternoons). Anyway, he's good for a laugh always. Just thought I'd discuss outside music, seeing as how Stones releases come and go and hell, I've got just about everything the Stones ever officially released. |
| 24th October 2006 05:45 AM |
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| Gazza |
Meg burned me a copy of that "Mermaid Avenue" album a few months ago. I thought it was really good.
Never bought "Hymns To The Silence", although I think I saw him when he toured behind it. Is "Aint Feelin It No More" on that album? |
| 24th October 2006 01:24 PM |
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| MrPleasant |
Try Ween!! |
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